


Family Summer Road Trip

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Warning Labels [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean Is Best Big Brother, Dean is 19 Though, Entirely anyway, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, M/M, Road Trip, That tag is not sarcastic, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-17 12:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 14,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5870146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John's boys have always gone with him in the summer, and now that they're old enough, helped out with the hunting.  This year, he's gonna have three boys instead of two, and things are going to be a lot more complicated than before.</p><p>Note: no underage sex will be explicitly depicted beyond kissing.  Cas is 16, Sam is 15.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. June 22, Afternoon

John was hardly surprised when three boys got out of the Impala at the rendezvous. It would complicate things a little, but it meant a happy Sam, which meant a Sam less likely to be constantly at his throat, so he would take it. “Hello, boys. Good drive?”

“Yes, sir,” Dean said. “Dad, Cas is coming with us for the summer. We…”

“Don’t have to explain or argue with me,” John interrupted. “Looking forward to getting to know the boy my sons have abandoned all their training for.”

“Thank you, sir,” Castiel said, relaxing a little.

“You said you’re sixteen? Got your license?” John asked.

Castiel shook his head. “In town I don’t need a car, and I don’t leave – unless I’m with Dean. Gabriel was going to teach me this summer so I'd be ready when I leave for college.”

“I’m planning on teaching Sam anyway, I can teach you too, Cas,” Dean offered.

John wasn’t surprised, but he was a little disappointed. He’d hoped Cas would be able to drive so that he and Dean could ride together sometimes. “I’ll help. Cas, what have my boys told you about what I do?” Dean shot him a sharp look, and Sam opened his mouth to protest. John waved him off.

“Contract work – investigation, bounty hunting, things I wouldn’t believe if they told me,” Cas said, and John felt the glow of pride. So his sons weren’t complete idiots for this boy.

But if Cas was coming for the summer, he’d find out soon enough, and he deserved the chance to back out. “Spirits and monsters. Ghosts, werewolves, things that go bump in the night. Dean’s been helping me in summer and at Christmas for a while now, Sam started last summer." Cas had gone a little pale, but he didn't look scared off. Good sign. "You still want to come?”

Cas nodded. “Now I understand where they got their speed and stamina from. I’m a quick learner, sir, I’ll help any way I can.”

“Cas, you don’t…” Sam started to protest, but Cas cut him off.

“I’m not going to sit around a motel room somewhere fretting about my family if there’s something useful I can do, Sam. I survived four months on the streets alone when I was thirteen. I’m not helpless. I may not be up to your standards, but I can fight,” Cas said.

John had to admit, that was not what he’d expected. He’d been prepared to take Cas home, or to make sure there was a safe place Cas could hide, and Sam too if Sam couldn’t keep his mind on the hunt. He had not expected to find that the kid had the stones to offer to help. Of course, he wanted to hear more about the four months on his own, that sounded like there was a story. “He’s got a point, boys. You can’t ask him to be our protected doll if he’s willing to fight beside us. Ever shot a gun, Cas?”

“Twice,” Cas said, and John became even more impressed. “One time I hit the guy coming after me, one time I missed.”

“You kill him?” John asked.

“No. Slowed him long enough for me to jump a fence he couldn’t climb with a bloody shoulder, though," Cas said. 

Well, the kid wasn’t perfect, John guessed. Still, of all the kids his sons could've picked to get stupid over, he was rather pleased with their choice. Of course, you didn’t wound monsters. “You fight with us, you shoot to kill. And they may look human.”

“That _was_ my intent with this guy, but I was scared, and my hands were shaking pretty bad,” Cas admitted.

What kid wouldn’t be scared, shooting to kill when he was thirteen? Besides a hunter’s kid, at least. “Well, we’ll have to get you over that, make you confident with a gun. Because you’re going to be scared, a lot. And it’s not just gonna be for yourself. Ghosts and werewolves just love Sammy. Shifters, thought-forms, things that mess with your head, they can’t get enough of Dean. I know my boys trust you, and I know you'd never hurt them on purpose, but I need to know that if a werewolf has Sam, it’s not my boy that’s coming out of that fight with a silver bullethole.”

“Yes, sir,” Castiel said. "That's fair."

“Good. That’s settled, then. Promised an old friend we’d drop in soon as you boys were out of school, and his place is a good place to do some basic training. Dean, you still remember how to get to Singer’s?” John asked.

“Yeah.” Dean checked his watch. “We gonna stop somewhere overnight, or show up at the crack of grumpy time?”

“When isn’t it grumpy time with Singer?” John asked, and Dean chuckled. “We’re stopping at Harvelle’s Roadhouse in Nebraska. Long past time you boys should properly meet Ellen Harvelle. Not sure she’ll speak to me, but she’ll look after the three of you.”

Dean rolled his eyes and Sam gave a sarcastic huff, but apparently they hadn't told Cas very much about him. “Why wouldn’t she speak to you?” Cas asked.

“I got her husband killed on a hunt,” John said. “My boys were with Singer… think Dean was twelve? Hadn’t gone by the Roadhouse in forever before that, I know she hasn’t seen Sammy since he was talking to anyone but Dean.” He went to the truck, rifling through the glove compartment until he found what he was looking for. “Try to stick with me, but here’s the map, just in case. Sammy, any chance I can talk you into riding with me?”

“Yeah. I’ll ride with you if you promise not to call me Sammy.” Damn, he kept forgetting. But Sam was climbing into the passenger seat with a smile, so maybe it wasn’t all that terrible.


	2. June 22 - Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sam have Family Bonding Time on their drive to Nebraska.

“How was school?” John asked.

Sam looked at his dad in confusion. That sounded almost like a question a normal parent would ask. “It was good. I really liked some of the teachers there, and the coaches loved me. You may be getting a phone call from the soccer coach when I don’t show up to school the first week back, he was really excited when he found out I play."

John nodded. "Well, if he calls, I'll tell him what I always do. Dean get in much trouble?"

Sam huffed a laugh. "It's Dean, of course he did. Skipping class, breaking hearts..." John rolled his eyes. Sam knew that wasn't what his dad was really asking, though. "He only had to beat up two kids before people got the message not to mess with me, this time, and he didn't really get in trouble for either of them. One was a senior so it was a fair... relatively, anyway... fight, the other was after I’d started dating Cas and this idiot sophomore had a problem with us, so he had it coming.”

“Glad to hear that,” John said. He shot Sam a concerned look. “You have any more trouble with homophobic idiots?”

“No…” Sam said, confused. “Dad, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know, not because I was scared or thought you’d take it badly or give me crap over it.”

“That’s good to know,” John said. “I know I’m not always the easiest parent to tell things to, and with the marine background… but you explained yourself back in March. You do understand that my objection to all this was based on not wanting to see you hurt, don’t you? That it has nothing to do with Cas himself, or you being gay or bi or whatever the hell you end up deciding you are? Which doesn't matter at all, not to me. I don't know him well, but I like what I've seen of your boyfriend.”

"You do?"

John nodded. "You wouldn't like him if he didn't have a brain, he didn't try to run or ask to hide when I told him what he's getting into this summer so he's obviously got balls, and Dean wouldn't let this happen if he didn't have a good heart and treat you right. Always knew you'd be different from Dean and his tendency to blow through girls, and I probably should've seen this coming when I let you stay in one place that long. It's like with forgetting to call you Sam. I don't always realize my baby boy's not a baby anymore. I made Dean grow up too fast, because he had to if we were all gonna make it after the fire. Both of us tried to protect you from that, but we can't keep you a kid forever. And that means letting you get yourself hurt if you decide it's worth it."

“Dad, what’s going on?” Sam asked. He was genuinely stumped here. John Winchester never acted like this.

“Nothing, kiddo. You’re my son, I worry about you, and I know I’m generally terrible at letting you know that.” Sam didn't buy it, but there was no chance to push his father on it as John popped in a Metallica tape and cranked up the volume. Conversation over, but John seemed unusually thoughtful as they drove on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> John Winchester, trying to be a good dad. Shocking. I usually tend to write Asshole John or Dead John, but for this 'verse, I wanted an actual Well-Meaning John. Still doesn't make him a particularly great father, but he tries.


	3. June 22 - Evening

“John Winchester. Been a long time since you dared show your face around here.” The woman behind the bar quite obviously didn’t take shit from anyone. The shotgun she had on John certainly didn't contradict that impression.

John shrugged. “Singer said he’d kick my ass if I didn’t at least try, for the boys’ sake. Hello, Ellen, it’s been a long time.”

“Good for him.” Ellen put down the shotgun and came out to hug him. “You coulda come by any time, you stubborn ass. You think I didn’t know every time he left he might not come back?”

“It was the time he left with me that it happened, my mistakes that got him killed,” John said.

Ellen shook her head. "Doesn't mean you deserve the blame. Pretty sure that goes to the Hellspawn."

"Ellen..." Ellen just shook her head, refusing to hear any more of it. John cleared his throat. “Anyway, it’s been a while since you saw the boys, they don’t even remember you.”

Ellen looked over at the three boys. “Pretty sure I remember there only being two of them, though. Hello, boys. Ellen Harvelle. Dean, good to see you again. Sammy… you were still in diapers last I saw of you. You sure grew up handsome, didn’t you.”

Sam ducked his head. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“None of that, not from John Winchester’s boys. You call me Ellen. Miss Ellen if you absolutely must.”

“Thank you, Ellen,” Sam repeated.

Ellen looked at Cas. “So who are you, then?”

“A temporary addition to the family,” Cas said. “My name is Cas.”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Sam added. “By the way, I prefer to be called Sam now.”

Ellen couldn’t have looked more surprised if Sam had announced that John Winchester had decided to quit hunting and become a circus clown. “Nice to meet you, Cas. John being decent enough?” was all she said, though.

Cas shrugged. “He didn’t raise a fuss about Sam and Dean bringing me along for the summer, so I’d say yes.”

“Dean?” Ellen pressed.

Cas smiled. “Dean’s been great. He treats me like a brother.”

“Huh.” Ellen clearly had not been expecting that. “Okay. Y’all lookin’ to stay the night?”

“If you’ll let us,” John said.

Ellen rolled her eyes at John. “Go upstairs, figure out who’s sleepin’ where.”


	4. June 23 - Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellen interrogates Cas and has some good advice for Sam, but Sam doesn't need it.

In the morning, Cas was, as usual, the first one awake. He went downstairs to find Ellen cooking. “Hey there, Cas. Pull up a stool.”

“I can help with…” Cas started to offer.

Ellen waved her spatula. “No need, I got this. How long you and Sam been together?”

“Four months,” Castiel said.

“All that time, you ever had a serious fight?”

“No ma’am,” Cas said with just a touch of pride. “Part of that is that we thought it was over as of yesterday no matter what. This road trip only extends that deadline; first of September, Sam and I lose each other.”

Ellen looked like she already knew the answer but had to ask. “Why’s that?”

“I have to go back to school, and Sam will be off with John and Dean somewhere else,” Cas said, and Ellen rolled her eyes. “We tend to resolve fights quickly – we don’t have the time to waste on anger and bitterness. One’s probably coming, though, Sam doesn’t want me to join the hunt and I can’t just sit in safety and wait.”

“I know how that feels. I used to hunt with my Bill, but then Jo came along. I’ll talk to Sam for you. Jo was a good reason to sit at home but there aren’t many others,” Ellen said. “If you do get another stay of execution, you and Sam should consider keeping your policy. It’s a good one, especially for hunters.”

“I don’t think there’s much possibility of another extension, although with Sam in school we can at least try to make things work with phone calls and letters,” Cas said. “If John will let Sam be still enough for letters to reach him reliably.”

“I wouldn’t count on that, but you can send ‘em to Bobby Singer or Jim Murphy. It won’t be much, but better than nothing.” Ellen looked thoughtful. “Maybe there’s another way. Bobby’s been begging John to let his boys stay with him during the school year for as long as he’s known them. Sam just might get stubborn on John if it means he can get letters from you.”

“I don’t know about that,” Sam said, startling both Cas and Ellen. He pulled up a stool. “Cas, I love you, but if Dean won’t stay with me…”

“Then you should go with him,” Cas said immediately. That was as it should be. “Good morning, Sam.”

“Mornin’, Sam,” Ellen said as she dumped two plates in front of the boys. “What’s your daddy told you about me?”

“Not much,” Sam said. “I’d never heard of you until yesterday, at least, not that I remembered. You know how he is, once he gets something in his head it stays there come Hell or high water, and he feels responsible for your husband’s death.”

“Noticed that. Well, my Bill was a hunter like Bobby or your dad,” Ellen said. “For the first couple years we were married, and the whole time we were dating seriously, I hunted with him. First couple hunts, I’ll admit I was terrified, but it was better than waiting at home for him. Until I had Jo to think about.”

Sam looked over to Cas, trying to hold back laughter. “She trying to tell me something here, Cas?”

“She asked about us fighting, it came up,” Cas said with a shrug. “Sam…”

Sam reached out and touched Cas’s arm. “I got thinking last night. Remembering how much I hated being left behind when Dean started going with Dad. You’re right about not being helpless, and I know it. So I guess while you’re learning to hunt, I’ll be learning to deal with you being in danger.”

Ellen looked between them. “You weren’t kidding about getting things resolved quickly.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Cas said a bit smugly as he returned to his breakfast.


	5. June 23 - Late Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas and John get to know each other a little better.

They left the Roadhouse around noon, heading north. This time, Cas offered to ride with John.

“I’m good to ride alone, kiddo,” John said. “I don’t want you and Sam to feel like you always have to split up since neither of you is driving yet.”

“Yes, sir, I appreciate that, but I don’t mind riding with you. I don’t want Sam to feel like I’m stealing his brother, you said you wanted to get to know me better, and you’ve been hunting longer than they have so have more to teach me,” Cas said.

John nodded, so Cas climbed into the truck. They were silent for the first few miles, Cas waiting for John to get to the inevitable questions.

It wasn’t much of a wait, really; not even ten minutes. “Okay. Back in March, there were some things said that you and Sam didn’t really explain then. But if you’re coming with me, I think I have the right to know more about your family drama, in case something happens.”

“Yes, sir,” Cas said. “My mother died when I was young, leaving me and my two younger brothers. My father never remarried – he believes it’s adultery. He’s extremely strict about religion. So when I was thirteen and I came out to him and the older of my brothers, he didn’t take it well. He locked me in the basement and informed me I was to stay there until I had returned my heart to the ways of God. I was in there for three days before Balthazar helped me escape. I ran away, and was able to hide for four months. Michael was very close, but luckily for me, his brother Gabriel found me first. Gabriel’s kept me hidden ever since.”

“And that’s where the four months on your own that you mentioned came from,” John said.

“Yes. It’s not a time I like to remember. I did a lot of things most people would disapprove of because I had to,” Cas said. Somehow, he suspected John Winchester would not be most people. Not on this one.

John smirked a little. “Like telling outrageous lies, stealing money and food and anything else you needed, fighting, shooting at people? I’ve had Dean and Sam doing those things since they were too young to understand why people wouldn’t approve. Dean shot at a monster for the first time when he was nine. I was away from home and it was coming after Sammy. Sam was a bit older, I think he was eleven or twelve, but he didn’t have a younger brother to look after.”

Cas nodded. “The man I shot was actually a relative – Michael’s cousin Thaddeus. I never liked him much, he was always unpleasant and he enjoyed bullying those younger or smaller than him. So when he started coming after me, and I saw the gun he was carrying, I had no doubt he was going to shoot me if I let him get a clear shot. He’s how Michael and Gabriel found me, actually. The other man I shot at and missed was a stranger. He was coming after me because I’d helped an older boy steal from him. He shot my friend, and I took my friend’s gun and shot back. My friend died, so I kept the gun.”

“That had to be rough. Where’s the gun now?” John asked.

“In the Impala.” John looked impressed. “Gabriel took it from me when he took me in and said he’d give it back when I had a place of my own to defend. Dean talked him into letting me take it with me this summer, I guess in case I ended up needing to protect myself while hiding during a hunt.”

“Good,” John said, somewhat amused. “While we’re at Singer’s place, I’m gonna have you shooting a lot of different guns, you don’t always get the luxury of picking your weapon. Still, it’s nice having a favorite gun that you feel completely comfortable with. Get Dean to show you his Colt sometime. It was his mother’s, her dad was a bit of a self-defense nut and insisted that Mary have a gun, and it survived the fire. I kept it to give to Dean when he was old enough. Sam hasn’t found his favorite yet, but he will, I’m sure.”

Cas nodded. “What’s yours?”

John laughed at that. “It’s a sawed-off shotgun Dean made me for Christmas a few years back. I’m not exactly much for subtlety.” He looked over at Cas, and Cas waited for him to share what was on his mind. “You took it awful calmly when I told you what I really do. Most people, they’d still be freaking out about monsters being real, not offering to help me kill them.”

“Most people weren’t raised by Michael Godwin,” Cas said.

“Your dad a hunter?” John asked, clearly surprised.

Cas shook his head. “Not at all. He believes in monsters. According to him, my mother was killed by a demon. A literal demon, not a metaphor for alcohol or a murderer or something like that. He raised us to believe in ghosts, werewolves, vampires, all kinds of bad things in the darkness. He also raised us to believe that God would protect us if we were faithful to his commands and lived as we were taught.”

John nodded. “And yet here you are fighting back.”

“The Catholic church is very much of the attitude that the Lord helps those who help themselves,” Cas pointed out. “Prayer is all good and well, but you can’t just sit back and expect God to do everything for you.”

“You still a believer, then? You said something about church drama back in March…” John said.

Cas sighed. “I’m still a believer, but the Church is not exactly the most progressive about sexual orientation. Sam and Dean know all about my faith, and we’ve settled into a respect for each other’s beliefs.” He hesitated. From what he’d heard from the boys, he wasn’t sure how John Winchester would take the next thing. “Sam’s been very curious about it.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” John said, and Cas relaxed. “Sammy’s favorite babysitter was always Jim Murphy, a Lutheran pastor. They’d spend hours talking about God and angels and how to reconcile the crap you see as a hunter with the idea of a benevolent God who cares about his people.” There was another pause. Finally, John asked, “Do you know anything about the supposed demon that killed your mother?”

“No, I don’t, I was only a kid, and Michael refused to talk about it so Gabriel doesn’t know anything either,” Cas said. “Why do you ask?”

John shrugged. “If you knew its name, or anything about it, could’ve made a nice summer hunt. May have found it, may not, but either way, might’ve been good for you. I got into this tracking the thing that killed my wife. I’m still looking for it.”

“If we hadn’t found it by September, what then? I’d go back to Gabriel with that wound reopened and unresolved.” A thought occurred to him, and he looked at John suspiciously. “Are you trying to make me a hunter?”

“Would that be the worst thing I could want for you? It’s what I’m training my own boys for, thought you wanted to be treated like another one,” John said.

Cas found he couldn’t argue with that. “Have you ever figured out why your boys took to me so quickly?”

“Nope. I’ve ruled out my first suspicions. Sorry, Cas, I thought you were some kind of witch or monster who’d hit them with a spell or something.” Cas had to admit, from John’s point of view, that wasn’t entirely unfair. A bit paranoid, perhaps, but not beyond the realm of reason. “Could be a lot worse. You’re smart, tough, adaptable, and strong-willed. My guess is that you can hack this life, if you do end up choosing it. Sam likes you, Dean’s encouraging you and him in your relationship, so you’re obviously a good person. You’re all right, kid. If I’m gonna have a third son for the summer, I’m glad it’s you.” John reached for a box under the seat and handed it to Cas. “First test, kid. Pick something to listen to.”

Cas looked through the box and couldn’t help the grin. Dean’s taste in music was suddenly explained very clearly. He picked Led Zeppelin II and put it in the player. John’s laughter and the loud music ended the conversation, at least for the time being.


	6. June 23 - Afternoon

Bobby was waiting on the porch when he saw two cars pulling up. He easily recognized the black Impala, and the truck behind it was exactly the kind of thing he'd figured John would get when he decided to hand the Impala over to Dean. It wasn't quite enough to make him set the shotgun down entirely, not until the Impala came to a stop and the two boys he loved like family were out. Then he dropped the shotgun, because Sam was still young enough to let Bobby give him a big hug. Dean was too cool for that now, but the handshake was warm and hearty.

With John, you never knew what to expect. But Bobby would never have thought to expect John to have a passenger too. "What the hell, John. Havin' your own boys in the life ain't enough for you?"

John chuckled as he came up and clasped Bobby's hand. "Don't look at me, Singer, wasn't my idea. This one's all on the boys."

"If Cas comes with us for the summer, I get an extra couple of months before I lose my brother," Dean said.

Now Bobby was even more confused. "How the hell are you losin' Sam? You're out of high school, but I don't see John kickin' you out of the family."

"He means Cas," Sam said, going to the strange boy and taking his hand. "It's more for me, though, Cas and I are together. Cas, this is Bobby Singer. He's one of the best there is in hunting, and Dean and I used to spend a lot of time here when Dad didn't want to take us to somewhere too dangerous. Uncle Bobby, this is Cas Winchester."

"Hell of a coincidence," Bobby said, looking hard at Cas. He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he had to ask. "If you and the other Winchesters are so close, how come they're losin' you?"

"I have to go back to school in the fall," Cas said. "And I'm already taking a huge risk by going off for the summer instead of staying where my uncle can protect me."

"Go back to school, and you'll be there the whole year?" Bobby said, turning his glare on John. John didn't flinch as he returned the glare.

Cas nodded. "If it weren't my last year, I might look into doing something else, but as it is... I'm afraid. I know the Winchesters will protect me as best they can, but they don't know my enemies like my uncle does."

"Well, you have some sense, anyway," Bobby said. "Whatever you're running from gonna track you here?"

Cas shook his head. "I don't think so. They have no reason to look for me in South Dakota, and I doubt they know enough about the Winchesters to start hassling their friends about me."

"They're just people, Bobby, not anything of ours," Sam added.

Bobby picked up his gun. "People still got eyes, though. No reason we can't take this inside."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Sam and Dean train Cas in Hunting 101, John talks to Bobby about his fears. Bobby thinks John is paranoid.

John had only planned to stay at Bobby’s for a few days, just until the boys had gotten their mindset switched back over to full-time hunting. As soon as he saw Cas, he’d mentally adjusted that to be at least a week. Fortunately, the kid was smart and pretty highly motivated to learn. He didn’t complain about John’s boot camp workout regimen, and while he couldn’t quite keep up with the people who’d been doing this all their lives, John wasn’t worried about him slowing them down too much.

Bobby and Sam split lore training duty, for which John was grateful. Not that John was any slouch when it came to lore or looking for weird patterns or spotting the difference between overactive imaginations and people in denial about what they’d actually seen or experienced. But everyone in the business agreed that when it came to lore, Bobby was the best there was. Sam was shaping up to be good, too.

Dean had volunteered to teach Cas how to shoot, and John had agreed to it. He remembered the patience Dean had always had with teaching Sam to shoot. Sam would usually join them, giving John a chance to talk to Bobby. One afternoon, he decided to get Bobby’s thoughts on something he’d been thinking over. “What do you know about demons, Bobby?”

“One possessed my wife so that Rufus had to kill her,” Bobby said, grabbing a bottle of the good whiskey and pouring them both a glass. “Why you askin’?”

“The kid’s mom was killed by one, or so his dad says.”

Bobby nodded. “His dad may be right. Most of the stuff he told Cas about what’s out there holds up pretty well.”

“Got me wondering about if a demon was responsible for Mary,” John said. “Missouri said she felt a powerful evil in the house, which a demon is, and fire and demons seem to be a logical combination. How do you track a demon?”

“Well, first off, there ain’t just a whole lot of ‘em, for the most part they’re locked away in Hell,” Bobby said. “There’s omens. Weird weather, livestock deaths, suddenly polluted water, that sort of thing. The more powerful the demon, the stronger and more varied the omens. Might be worth checking into, at least.”

“How do you kill them?”

Bobby laughed harshly. “You don’t. You exorcise them, send their ass back to Hell. There’s a bunch of different exorcisms, but they all have the same basic formula. First you pull ‘em out of the human host, then you banish them to Hell.”

“If a demon got Mary, I want to kill it,” John said. “There’s gotta be a way.”

“I’ll look, but don’t get your hopes up,” Bobby said. “If you’re gonna start looking at demons, though, you might wanna invest in anti-possession charms. Nothin’ worse than trying to kill something wearing someone you care about.”

“Yeah.” Just the thought of having to put a bullet or whatever into one of his boys – or Cas, he found to his surprise – had him pouring another glass. “Speakin’ of the kid, what do you think of him?”

“I think he could be a really good influence on your boys if you’ll let him,” Bobby said. “You seriously gonna pick this fight now? If you’re itchin’ to get out of here, you can just leave without pissing everyone off, you know.”

“I’m not looking for a fight, Bobby. Cas isn't ready for fieldwork quite yet. But this kind of thing is exactly what I was afraid of with letting them stay in one place too long. They got lucky with Cas, if it had been the typical future soccer mom of America type of girl… or future 9-to-5 office job guy, I guess…”

“Then your boys wouldn’t have gotten this close,” Bobby said. “They may not have meant for Cas to hunt, but they had to know bringin’ him along for the summer would mean he had to deal with the life, and they wouldn’t have tried if they didn’t think he could handle it. What exactly about Cas has you so worried?”

John didn’t answer right away. Instead, he finished off his current glass of whiskey and poured himself another. “Seems convenient that the one time I let my boys stay in one place, they meet someone like Cas who worms his way into their hearts. First time I’ve heard anything of Sam being interested in anybody, and I mean I haven’t caught him looking at people we meet or heard comments about liking an actress or singer or whatever it is kids these days get crushes on, and it’s a guy he falls head over heels in love with. The one thing I’ve ever known of that comes close to Dean’s bond with his little brother is his loyalty to me, and Dean threatened to take Sam and run away with Cas if I caused problems for Cas with his stalker family. Maybe it’s Cas working on me, too, but I don’t think Cas is doing anything on purpose, but that doesn’t mean he’s not being used to get to us.”

Bobby set down his whiskey and stared at John. “Now I realize, comin’ from me, this is a bit of a pot and kettle situation. But don’t you think you’re bein’ a bit paranoid?”

John chuckled. Pot and kettle indeed. He'd never met anyone as paranoid as Bobby Singer. “Yeah. I am. Being paranoid is how I keep myself and my boys alive. The fact that I’m not keeping Cas and my boys separate in my mind is bugging me.”


	8. July 1

Dean led his brothers to the kitchen where John and Bobby were throwing down shots in memory of old friends. “Dad? We think we may have found something worth checking out.”

“Yeah? Let’s hear it,” John said. Bobby shot him an exasperated look, but kept his silence.

Sam started explaining. “Saint Louis County, Minnesota, every month for the past eight months, there have been two victims of bear attacks.”

“Bear attacks. In Minnesota,” John said.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Shut up and let me finish. Both victims are attacked the same night, the night of the new moon. Of the sixteen victims, all are men. Ages are all over the place, although all over twenty, they’re all white but given the area that’s not exactly a surprise. Fourteen of the victims died. Both survivors had similar wounds: slashes across the torso, but most notably – both were castrated.”

Now John was actually listening. “Any of the dead folks castrated?”

“Nope,” Dean said. “Which seems pretty weird, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” John said. “Bobby? Any ideas?”

Bobby shook his head. “Never heard of castration by bear.”

“I haven’t, either, exactly, but…” Cas offered. Bobby and the Winchesters looked at him. “In Greek mythology, the goddess Artemis was worshiped as the Great She Bear at the new moon. And she didn’t exactly have much use for men, but she did have some male priests… if they were eunuchs.”

“So our theory is that someone’s calling up Artemis somehow, or something pretending to be her, and the victims are given a choice to either become her priest and accept castration or die,” Sam said.

“Sounds like a reasonable theory,” Bobby said.

“New moon’s on the Fourth,” Dean said. “So if we’re gonna investigate, we need to go now.”

John looked to Cas. “You think you’re ready for fieldwork, kid?”

“I think I have to be,” Cas said. “I’ll hang back, try to let you and Dean and Sam do most of the fighting, but if I have to I think I’ll be all right.”

“His shooting’s improved a lot now that he’s gotten some proper teaching instead of going with the point and shoot style,” Dean added.

Bobby shook his head, but apparently decided to stay out of it. “You leaving tonight or can I at least talk enough sense into you idjits to get a good night’s sleep first? You’ve had a few, John, might wanna sleep it off a bit before hitting the road.”

“Pretty tight schedule, if we’ve gotta get this figured out by the fourth or two more men get attacked,” John said. “Sooner we leave, sooner we can get started. Dean?”

“I’m good for the drive, sir. I can take these two and head out now, you meet us out there tomorrow after some sleep?” Dean offered, and Bobby rolled his eyes as he capped the bottle and went to put it up.

John nodded. “Sounds good. Watch yourselves, don’t try to go after this thing until I’m there, call me if you see anything. Research and interviews only, boys.”

"Yes, sir," Dean said, and Sam and Cas both nodded their agreement.


	9. July 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt goes wrong after Sam makes a mistake. Dean and Cas decide to rescue him instead of waiting for John.

Dean meant to stick to the plan, he did. Research and interviews only until Dad got there. But apparently, that wasn’t going to work, because they’d been here three hours and Sam was already missing. Dean was trying to stay calm, because Cas needed him to be. It wasn’t working very well.

“Are you sure he’s not just at the library or following up on a lead?” Cas asked, trying to stay calm in the back seat of the Impala.

“Sam knows better, and he’d never have left his phone or gone anywhere without at the very least a gun and a knife,” Dean said. “You haven’t had the opportunity to see Sammy knife fight yet, have you? If you weren’t already in love, you would be.”

Cas managed a weak smile. “So what do we do? If he was taken by the Artemis wolves, then we have until the 4th to find him. How do we track him down?”

“We sit tight and wait for Dad,” Dean said. “Then once he’s kicked my ass for not looking out for Sammy, he’ll know how to track him.”

“We’re not expecting your dad until tonight,” Cas said. “That wastes nearly an entire day we could be looking for Sam.”

“But it keeps us from getting captured ourselves. They take two, remember? We can’t just…”

“We can’t just abandon Sam,” Cas said. “What do we know?”

“We know that you’re a bad influence on me,” Dean grumbled. “Okay. Sam was here while we were out talking to a lead. No sign of a struggle, so they lured Sam out instead of dragging him out. If it were me, I’d say they used a pretty girl, but that wouldn’t work on Sam. Sam didn’t take his phone, so he didn’t expect to be gone long.”

“Does Sam know how to change a tire?” Cas asked.

“You think I let Sam reach an age where he’s old enough to handle the tools without learning how to do basic maintenance on my baby?” Dean asked. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“There’s a car in the parking lot with a flat tire, and no one seems to be around doing anything about it. Now, maybe the owner is simply unaware…”

Dean caught on. “Or maybe that was the lure. Someone comes to the door and asks Sam if he can help change her tire, he being the gentleman I raised him to be says yes, he’s not going far so he might not grab his phone. Have to remind him of how the Winchester paranoia works, but that does explain it.”

Dean went out to look at the car, Cas behind him. “What are we looking for?” Cas asked.

“Any sign of a struggle, maybe blood or something got dropped, they had to have knocked him out because Sam wouldn’t go without a struggle, and they didn’t take the car. Given that it was likely a woman, I’m betting on chloroform or something like that instead of a blow to the head. Couple years back, I got chloroformed by a witch. After he got done shouting at me for being careless, Dad made us do these drills where we’d chloroform each other and practice what to do as we passed out to leave a trail for the others to follow.”

“That sounds fun,” Castiel said. “I can see why you and Sam are just as happy to have him gone.”

Dean shrugged. “If it saves my brother’s life… or balls… then I will shake Dad’s hand and thank him for the lessons.” He knelt to examine something on the ground. “Blood. Not much, Sam didn’t have his knife, but it looks like he managed to do something. Enough. See how the drops taper off? This way.” Dean set off towards the woods behind the motel. At the edge of the woods, they found one of Sam’s shoes. “Okay. The sensible thing to do would be to wait for Dad.”

“Screw sensible. Sam’s in danger,” Cas said.

Dean managed a small smile. “Figured you’d say that. Okay. Ground rules. Stay close to me, but let me lead. I tell you to do something, don’t argue with me, just do it. You can ask for an explanation later. Don’t shoot unless you’re sure of your shot or you’re in immediate danger. And when we find Sam, stay calm. Don’t charge in and try to help him. We don’t know what we’ll find him in. Could be he’s fine, could be they’re getting ready to operate, but we do as much scouting and planning as we can before we go in.” Castiel nodded. “And if I forget that, hold me back. I hate seeing Sam in trouble.”

“Understood. Let’s go.”

 

Sam hadn’t been able to leave a trail through the woods, but fortunately, the people dragging him weren’t able to pick him up very well. There were scuffs in the leaves and dirt that kept Dean and Cas on the right track. They found the edge of a clearing. In the center of the clearing was an altar. Marble. Who the hell went to all the trouble to haul marble into the middle of the freakin’ woods?

Dean counted nine women hanging around the altar. The leader was easy to identify by the silver circlet she wore. Other than that, the women were dressed pretty much identically in camo pants and solid T-shirts. He didn’t see Sam, but there was a tent set up on one edge of the clearing. Dean tapped Cas’s arm and pointed, indicating that they should try to get around to it.

They hadn’t had time to teach Cas much in the way of the outdoors, but apparently Cas was either a natural at moving silently, or it was a skill he’d honed to a sharp edge during his time as a runaway. At the edge of the tent, Dean paused to examine it. From up close, he could see the silhouette of Sam. He carefully drew his knife and cut a flap in the back of the tent.

No sooner had he pulled it back to go in than Sam was crawling out. His hands were tied, but other than that, he looked fine. Dean cut the rope with the knife and helped Sam to his feet. Once Sam was vertical and Dean was sure he wouldn’t fall back over, he pressed the knife into Sam’s hand. “What do you think?” he whispered.

“Go back,” Sam whispered back. “Too many, one’s a witch.” Made sense to Dean. They weren’t moving that marble altar very far, not with the new moon in two days, so they could come back when John got there.

 

Back at the motel, they had just closed the door when Sam started the apologies. “I’m sorry, Dean. I wasn’t thinking. You gonna tell Dad?”

“Gotta tell him something for how we know where to find the camp,” Dean said. “Got a cover story that doesn’t involve us disobeying orders?”

“Blame me,” Cas offered. “I did a stupid rookie mistake and you two had to come save me.”

Sam shook his head, but he was smiling. “No way. We’re trying to protect you from the worst of the danger, remember? Dad’s wrath definitely counts. I got nothing, Dean. I’ll tell him myself when he gets here.”

“You said one of those women was a witch,” Dean said. “How do you know?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “I am a hunter, Dean. I know how to use my eyes and ears. Most of those women go home and live mostly normal lives. The witch… she may live here in town, but her shrine and all her spell stuff is out there. Breanne got in a lot of trouble for bringing me out there two days early. She’ll probably be in more trouble when they realize I’m gone.”

“Hard to feel bad for the bitch who kidnapped my little brother,” Dean said. “Why you? Not that there was much profile to fit, but they hadn’t taken a kid before.”

Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they don’t get a lot of strangers in town. Not much out here to come here for. You got any idea, Cas? You’re the one who put together the mythology.”

“No. Artemis is supposed to protect children. I’m not sure if fifteen would count or not, but it’s still strange that they would go after someone underage.”

“Target of opportunity, then,” Sam said with a shrug. “Maybe she has some psychic power that told her I’d fall for the flat tire trick.”

“Yeah, about that. Take your phone, doofus. I don’t care if you’re going two steps, on a hunt, there is never an excuse to be without your phone.”

 

When John arrived, the three boys had their weapons packed, supper eaten, and were ready to go as soon as they’d brought him up to speed. “What do you think, Dad? Think if we gank the witch, the cult breaks up?” Dean asked when he’d finished explaining the situation.

“Well, we’ll have a couple days to see, won’t we,” John said. “Sammy, explain to me how you happened to get separated from Dean and Cas?”

“Dean was gonna go investigate a lead we’d heard on the radio and thought it’d be good for Cas to go. Three of us going would just look weird, so I stayed behind to settle in here. They’d only been gone a few minutes when the woman came to the door.”

“And you answered the door because…?”

Sam looked away from John. “Because I messed up. Dean’s already told me off for my stupidity, Dad. I wasn’t thinking, and while it worked out this time, maybe it doesn’t next time.”

“I expect better from you, son,” John said. “You’re not the rookie anymore. You’re supposed to be setting an example for your boyfriend. Cas, learn from this. To survive a hunt, you gotta be paranoid. A distressed woman comes knocking at your door, maybe she’s exactly what she says, a tourist with a flat whose daddy didn’t have the sense to teach her to look after herself. Maybe she’s not. Maybe she’s a cult priestess looking for a victim. Maybe she’s a demon and she’s gonna kill you right there.”

“Yes, sir,” Cas said.

Sam waited, but there didn’t seem to be more coming, which confused him. “Sir? You haven’t said what my punishment is.”

John shook his head. “Haven’t decided yet. This time, it worked out for the best, what are the chances we solve this case this quickly? You kept your wits about you, gave your brother as much of a trail as you could, scouted the camp like a pro. Cas, that you _can_ follow his example on. Come on, we’ve got a witch to gank.”

 

Ganking the witch felt rather anti-climactic to Cas. They’d headed back to the clearing in the woods, to find that all the other women had gone home. That made it easier, and apparently, witches were still vulnerable to bullets. Sam said that wasn’t always the case, but this one was still new enough for it to work.

“So was that really the legendary wrath of John Winchester?” Cas asked as the three boys sat on the Impala, Dean with a beer and Sam and Cas with Sprites. “That seemed perfectly reasonable to me.”

“Nah, apparently I did a good enough job turning it to our advantage that he settled for guilt-tripping me about being a bad example for you instead of shouting, and since Bobby made him sleep off the booze he wasn’t drunk enough to take a swing,” Sam said. “Trust me, you won’t be disappointed when you do see him really mad.”

“He ever tell you what your punishment is?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, him and me are going for a drive tomorrow, you two can do whatever you want as long as you keep an eye out for those other eight women while Dad puts me through some extra training,” Sam said. “Based on what he does to you when you pull a bonehead mistake, I’m guessing I’ll hear a lot about how I let him down by not setting a better example for Cas.”

Dean shuddered. “I have to admit, that works better than making me run or do extra chores or skip something fun. Those I can deal with. But when he starts in on me letting you down…”

“Then he can get off his damn high horse, because it’s not like he never screws up, and he’s let me down way more often than you have,” Sam said. “But yeah, I’m getting now why that was so effective.”

“Michael used that on me, too, any time I did anything wrong I got the lecture about setting a better example for Balt and Uriel,” Cas said. “It wasn’t as effective as it would be with you two, since I never cared what kind of example I was setting for Uriel since he never seemed to follow it, but I did feel bad about Balt. I miss him.”

Sam scooted closer to Cas. “When you turn eighteen, do you think you might try to go back and see him?”

“Maybe,” Cas said. “Not right away, it’ll take time for it to sink in that I don’t have to be afraid anymore, but I’m honestly not sure how well Balt will take it. Yes, he helped me escape, but he was only eleven. I don’t know that he really understood that I wasn’t coming back.”

Sam nodded and squeezed Castiel’s hand. “If you want, I’ll go with you. For moral support and punching Michael in the face if he tries anything.”

Cas laughed, and the talk faded out as the brothers started watching the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait for this one! February kind of sucked for me as a month in whole, struggling with some serious energy issues and a bit of writer's block. That got compounded by the fact that I have managed to lose the notebook I was using to work on this 'verse while away from my computer, which isn't really an excuse because what's in there is several months ahead of where I'm publishing, but the psychological effect of OMG LOST WORK made it harder to work in this 'verse.
> 
> March is looking much better, though, so I expect to be rather productive over the next week as I'm on Spring Break and have not much else to do _but_ write.


	10. July 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunt settled, it's time for some good American traditions.
> 
> What says America more than loud noises and fire?

Word spread pretty quickly throughout town that a woman had been found dead in the woods, and by late afternoon on the 4th, there had been no word of any missing men. John came into the motel room with a large box. “Alright, boys. I’m gonna go stake out the camp, just in case, but I think I can handle it on my own. Bobby made me promise to bring these, he was really disappointed we wouldn’t still be there today but he could at least send the fireworks to you.”

“Seriously? Bobby sent us fireworks?” Dean’s eyes lit up, as did Sam’s. Then they looked at each other and their glee turned to confusion. “And you’re actually giving them to us after last year?”

“You’re older, wiser, and know that if you burn down another field I will kick your asses so hard you’ll wish you were never born,” John said. “Besides. Singer’s soft when it comes to the two of you. But he’s also the kind of guy who would hide a tracking device or something and know that they didn’t go off, and I don’t want to be waking up to fifteen messages of whiskey and rage and questioning of my parenting.”

Sam laughed and took the box from John. “Come on, I saw the perfect place to set these off yesterday when we were looking at the places where the “bear” attacks happened.”

 

“Ever set off a firework, Cas?” Dean asked as he started to organize everything.

Cas shook his head. “Until I was with Gabriel, I’d never even seen fireworks. Michael didn’t approve of sending fires up to the skies. He said the stars were all the decoration the heavens needed.”

“Good, another first you get to share with us,” Sam said. “I usually let Dean do most of the work, he’s the family pyro, but you gotta do at least one.”

Cas took the firework Sam was holding out with a skeptical glance. “What do I do?”

“Stick it in the ground, light the fuse, run,” Dean said. “In that order.”

“Where?”

Dean went over with his first firework. “Watch me, and when I give you the all-clear, do what I do.” Dean got his firework set in the ground, used his lighter to light the fuse, and ran back to where Sam and Cas were sitting on the hood of the Impala. When it exploded, he grinned and turned around. “Awesome!”

“Okay, Cas, your turn, or you wanna watch me do one?” Sam asked.

Cas looked at the rocket in his hand. “You go.”

Sam nodded and took the lighter from Dean, heading out to set up his rocket. Dean, meanwhile, went to the cooler. “Beer or Coke, Cas?”

“I’m terrified to do this sober, and you’re asking if I want to have a drink?” Cas said.

Dean nodded. “Yep. One beer might take the edge off without impairing you too bad.”

“No, thank you. Fire and alcohol is a bad combination,” Cas said. Dean nodded and brought Cas a Coke as Sam ran back toward them.

“Alright, Cas,” Sam said after the explosion. He handed the lighter over. “You can do this.”

Cas took the lighter, his hand shaking a little. He got to where Dean had cleared an area for a launch site. “If you can shoot Thaddeus, you can light a fuse and run,” he told himself firmly. Still, it took a couple tries to light the lighter. Once the fuse caught, he turned and ran for the Winchesters. He turned around when he heard the explosion, watching the brilliant colors play across the sky.

Dean clapped him on the shoulder when he got back. “Nice work. Now, any objections to letting the pyro do his thing?”

“No,” Cas said. “You have fun.”

“Yeah, you love this, I know better than to get between you and your fireworks,” Sam said. He hopped back up on the hood of the Impala, Cas beside him, and they watched Dean light up the sky.


	11. July 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While out ganking a ghost, Sam ends up badly hurt. Cas freaks out a little.

They hadn’t gone back to Bobby’s. John kept them moving, and they’d done two more hunts on the road. It was on that second hunt that things went south.

It was supposed to be a somewhat complicated salt-and-burn. The complication was that there were two ghosts, sisters who were out for blood to avenge their own murders. Naturally, Elizabeth was buried beside her husband in the cemetery in town, and Anne was buried next to her husband in the cemetery two towns over. And Sam had figured out that the two were tied together by a blood pact, so burning one would only mean there would be two pissed-off ghosts waiting for them at the other’s grave.

“Boys, we gotta split up,” John said. “Dean, take one of your brothers and head for Twinsburg. Other brother’s with me here. Call when you’ve started digging, and call again when you’re ready to burn.”

“I got Dean last time,” Sam said. “Cas, you go with him.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I’m good, go, enjoy your first grave desecration,” Sam said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

“You have the strangest milestones in this family.” Cas headed for the door with Dean.

“I’m gonna go grab a couple things from the Impala, meet you at the truck?” Sam said to John. John nodded.

 

When they got to the cemetery, everything seemed peaceful. It wasn’t long before John’s phone rang once and then went silent. The signal from Dean. He nodded to Sam, and the two started digging.

“Put your back into it, son,” John said. “No excuse for getting slow and lazy!”

“Funny, was just gonna ask if you wanted to take a break, you’re starting to slow down there, old man,” Sam said.

“You wanna go a couple rounds? This old man can still kick your ass,” John said.

Sam laughed. “Course you can, but that’s hardly anything to brag about. Just wait till I hit my growth spurt. Then we’ll see if you can still take me.”

“Glad you brought Cas with you,” John said. “You’d still be sulking, and I’d be digging up this grave by myself. It’s good to have you here.”

Sam stopped digging. “Dad? Is this a test to see if I’ve been practicing my Latin?”

“No, but now that you mention it…”

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas…” Sam trailed off. “I don’t remember what comes next. What’s with the demon kick lately anyway?”

“They’re rare, but they’re out there, and I realized I hadn’t taught you boys how to defend yourselves and fight them,” John said. “So I’m doing it this summer.”

“You can’t teach us every single monster,” Sam protested.

John snorted. “Doesn’t mean I can’t try, and demons aren’t just another monster. Guns are useless. Knives are useless. Doesn’t matter what the bullets or blades are made of.”

“If you say so,” Sam said. His shovel hit coffin, and he nodded to John. The two men wrestled the coffin open and climbed out, waiting for Dean’s signal.

The wait was interrupted by a ghost diving at Sam, going for the throat. Sam flailed for the salt, but couldn’t get to it. John came up, swinging the tire iron through the ghost and causing it to dissipate.

“Can’t burn the ghost until we get the signal. What the hell’s keeping your brother?” John grumbled as he helped Sam to his feet.

Sam shook his head, feeling a little sick. His leg felt weird, and when he looked down, he saw his jeans were torn and his calf was bleeding pretty freely. “I dunno, but I must’ve… yeah,” he picked up his shovel and showed his father the bloody edge. “That bitch dropped me on it pretty hard.”

John’s phone rang then, and Sam lit the matchbook to drop into the grave. The ghost was coming back at him when she burst into flames, an unholy screech ringing through the night. John checked Sam’s leg. “Can you walk to the truck?”

“Yeah, I… I think so,” Sam said, though he was limping pretty badly. At the truck, John tossed him a towel and Sam wrapped it around his leg, holding pressure as firmly as he could. “Thanks.”

Naturally, John and Sam beat Cas and Dean back to the motel, so John started the cleanup and was just about to start stitching it up when Dean and Cas walked in. Dean had John shoved out of the way almost immediately. “What the hell happened, Sammy?”

“Stupid ghost was strangling me, when Dad smoked her she dropped me and I landed on the shovel,” Sam said. “C’mere, Cas, may as well take this opportunity to learn how to do this.”

Cas had gone incredibly pale when he saw Sam’s leg. “Sam… are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?”

“I’ve had worse,” Sam said. “You should ask Dean about the time he had to fish a bullet out of my shoulder.”

Cas knelt on the floor beside the bed, reaching up to stroke Sam’s hair. “We should have dug faster, Sam. I’m sorry.”

“He’ll be fine, Cas, really,” Dean said, though the words sounded a little forced. It was much more natural when he added, “You did good. Much better than the first time I dug up a grave with Sammy.”

“In my defense, I was twelve,” Sam protested, but he was laughing. “Okay. It had been raining, like Biblical flood style, for two days, but we couldn’t wait much longer. So when we got a break in the rain, Dad decided we should go then. And I figured okay, no big deal, the mud’ll have the ground all soft and easy to dig through, right?”

“What Sam hadn’t remembered was that mud is heavier than dirt, because of the water,” Dean said. “So he goes to work all eager and shovel flying, and by the time we were three feet down, he could barely raise his arms and his hands were all rubbed raw. Insisted on finishing the job, refused to get out and take Dad’s spot with the iron and salt watching our backs.”

“It took a week before I could stand to touch much of anything,” Sam said. “Learned my lesson, though. Taught me patience.”

“And there we go, your leg’s all done,” Dean said, packing up the med kit. “Need any painkillers?”

“Maybe later, when I’m trying to sleep,” Sam said. “What I really need is a shower.”

Dean nodded. Cas moved up to sit on the bed. “How do you do it?” he asked Dean.

“Deal with Sam being hurt?” Cas nodded. “I got a lot of practice, back when the injuries were a lot smaller. But you know that Sam made way more of a fuss over a skinned knee at three years old than he’ll make over a broken bone now. If I overreact where he can see or hear it, it makes it that much less likely he’ll even say anything about a cut like that the next time. You did fine, Cas. It’s not your fault he got hurt, sometimes crap just happens. You didn’t freak out when you saw the leg. Still gotta get that next step, to where you can stitch it up for him if Dad or I can’t, but you’re really handling this better than I’d expected.”

Cas looked at the door. “How do you deal with having to do the stitches?”

“I remind myself that the bitch that hurt him in the first place is ganked, and a little more pain now will save him a lot more later on,” Dean said. “Sometimes healing hurts, but it’s better than the alternative. Harder for me to see the bruises he’s gonna have around his neck, I can’t do anything about those.”

When Sam came out, still working on trying to towel his hair dry, Cas understood what Dean meant. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the bruises were really starting to stand out. There was no mistaking exactly what put them there or why. His breath caught.

Sam noticed. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m fine,” he said, coming to stand by Cas. “But you can see why I wasn’t thrilled about you hunting. This could’ve been you. Next time, it might be.”

“I don’t care,” Cas said. “Better me than you.”

Sam shook his head fondly. “You and Dean are both idiots. I’d rather deal with the pain than have to watch you suffer. If you get hurt this summer, you have no idea how badly I’ll freak out. I mean, no matter what happened, I was gonna be hunting this summer. You, on the other hand, could’ve been safe at home with Gabriel, but you’re out risking death because of Dean and me. Half my nightmares are about you getting hurt or killed out here.”

Dean cleared his throat. “Am I clearing out or staying here?”

“Stay,” Sam said after a quick consultation with Cas. “Even now, I sleep better when I can hear you snoring.”

“Sucks for you that I don’t snore, then,” Dean said. “Don’t forget I’m here tomorrow morning, you hear me?” So far it had only happened once, and they hadn't gotten far enough to be _too_ weird, but still.

“Got it,” Sam said, settling into bed with a book while Cas got ready to go shower.

 

Late that night, Cas woke up, sweat dripping from his forehead. He was shaking hard, and only Sam’s arm lying heavy over his chest kept him from sitting up. “Hey. Nightmare?” Sam whispered.

“How long have you been awake?” Cas asked.

“Only a couple minutes, I was having a nightmare too,” Sam said. “Let me guess… you were with me instead of Dad, and you weren’t quick enough to save me?”

Cas nodded. “How did you know?”

“Because I’m willing to bet my silver knife Dean’s over there having the same one. Because my nightmare was that it was Dean being attacked, and I wasn’t fast enough. Little surprised it wasn’t you, I’ve had a lot more practice at dealing with the prospect of Dean dying because of me, but there’s plenty of night left and I’ve always been nightmare-prone.”

Cas swallowed and rolled toward Sam. “I’m glad you’re here. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with the nightmares in September, when I won’t be waking up to you breathing and warm beside me.”

“Yeah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think of that when Dean invited you to come. I’ll try to call, and write, but… it’s not the same,” Sam said.

Dean shot up in bed then, looking over to the others. “I’m fine, Dean,” Sam said, raising his voice back to normal now that there was no one to wake up. “Cas, too.”

“Good to hear,” Dean said. “Cas?”

“I hate nightmares,” Cas said. “But I’m better now.”

“Good. Think you can sleep more?” Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. “I can’t. I close my eyes, I’m gonna have nightmares again.”

“Wasn’t asking you,” Dean said, throwing his pillow at Sam. “Cas?”

“I probably could, but I’d rather not,” Cas said. “Once is enough for one night.”

“Fair enough,” Dean said, reaching over and flipping on the light. “Come on, Sammy, let’s teach Cas how to play poker.”


	12. July 23

Sam’s leg healed up nicely, and he was itching for a chance to get back out in the field. Dean found him one afternoon while John took Cas to the library for some research on the monster they were there to hunt. “Hey, Sammy. How come you didn’t go with Dad?”

“Dad said to stay here, he might be calling us and he didn’t want you to have to come pick me up before we took off after this thing,” Sam said. “We really should get a laptop with internet connection so I can research from here.”

“You know Dad. Laptop’s more hassle than it’s worth, according to him.”

Sam just shrugged. “Well, if I earn the money for it, he can’t exactly stop me from buying one, can he.”

“Nope.” Dean looked up from his bed, where he was reading _Breakfast of Champions_. “Although since when do you talk like you actually want to keep doing this?”

“Huh?” Sam looked over.

Dean set the book down and sat up. “Last summer and fall, every other word out of your mouth was how much you hate this life, how Dad sucks and we should just leave. Now you’re talking about getting a laptop for research, telling Cas all these stories about all the cool things we’ve done.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I still want something more settled, more normal,” Sam said. “But I’m having a lot of fun this summer. I think having the time off was good for me, not to mention I’m not just sharing this with you, we’re sharing it with Cas.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda what’s worrying me,” Dean said. “You’re gonna be hell to live with come September, aren’t you.”

“You thought I was whiny and annoying last fall, you haven’t seen anything yet,” Sam agreed. “I’m gonna try not to be awful, at least not to you, but if Dad pulls his usual new school every month and constantly shutting me out and treating me like a kid, then yeah, it’s gonna suck for you to be stuck in the middle of. And I am preemptively very sorry about it.”

Dean’s phone rang, and he answered quickly. “Dad?” His face went very pale as he listened, until the very end where it hardened in anger. “No, that’s bullshit. WE are on our way.”

“Dean?” Sam was already reaching for his gun and knife.

“They never made it to the library, Dad spotted the thing and followed it to its lair. He stepped out to find cell signal to call us, but heard a thump.”

“Cas,” Sam said as he slammed the Impala door closed.

“Yeah. He’s unconscious, Dad stopped the bleeding, wanted me to come get Cas while he went after the monster.” He put the Impala in gear and took off, driving as fast as he could.

“What about me?”

Dean shook his head. “Dad said to tell you I needed to run an errand for him and leave you behind.”

“Shutting me out. Treating me like a kid.” Sam seethed for a minute, until he realized, “Wait a minute. You’re disobeying Dad?”

“Dad pulled this once on me,” Dean said. “Last summer, when you were taken by that crocotta? I was supposed to be helping Caleb while you two handled the hunt. Dad called Caleb, Caleb lied to me, they brought you home in pieces. I swore I was never doing that to you and if I found out Dad had done that to you because I was hurt, him and me were gonna go a few rounds.”

“Wow,” Sam said. “I appreciate that, Dean. I… I wanna be there, if Cas wakes up. Or…”

Dean stopped him. “Dad said he’s not that bad off. Blood loss, probably a concussion, gonna have a hell of a headache when he wakes up, but he is gonna wake up.”

Sam settled back, not sure he believed Dean. Dean wasn’t on the phone that long; Dad wouldn’t waste time on details. He just hated the idea of Cas waking up alone, with a concussion, in the middle of nowhere. Waking up to find Dean there would be okay, but he wanted to be there for Cas. He’d wondered at the time why Dean hadn’t come, and treated his brother like crap for a week over it. Now he felt terrible about that. “Hey, Dean?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about…”

“Just shut up, you didn’t know,” Dean said. “I should’ve realized something was wrong and made Caleb take me, or stolen a car and followed him, or something.”

“But…”

“No. You wanna make it up to me, go easy on Dad for this. He’s trying to spare you having to see that until we can patch him up at least a little. He really does mean well.”

Sam shook his head. He wasn’t sure he could promise that. It would depend on how Dad treated Dean for the disobedience. He let it go, though, instead leaning on the window and whispering a prayer.

When they got there, Sam was out of the car before Dean had it properly shut down, running to his father. “Where is he?”

John didn’t answer, waiting for Dean to get there. “Cas is in the cave there. I’m going after the wraith. Sammy, come with me.”

Dean shot Sam a warning glance, but Sam ignored him. “No, sir. Cas came along because of me. He’s hurt because of me. I need to be here to help him get better.”

John looked between his boys, and gave a curt nod before turning and following the blood trail. Conversation wasn’t over, and Sam fully expected this one to be bad, but it didn’t matter as he and Dean headed for the shallow cave. Dean was the more experienced medic, so Sam let him examine Cas while he held Cas’s head and neck still.

“It really doesn’t look too bad, he got thrown into the wall and hit his head. Can’t really tell how much blood he lost, but he’s not shivering, his breathing’s fine. I don’t think he lost enough to go into shock.”

“Okay. From what I can tell without risking it, his spine’s okay, so I think we can take him to the hotel… unless you think we should get him to a hospital?”

Dean shook his head. “Not until he wakes up. If he’s too confused, we’ll take him, but I think he’ll be okay with rest and fluids.”

After they got back to the hotel, Dean helped Sam get Cas settled into bed and then took off to get Cas some Gatorade and crackers. Sam pulled a chair over to sit beside Cas and try to clean him up as much as he could and check for other bruises or deep cuts they’d missed. Then came the part he hated: waiting. Even when Dean got back and they were waiting together, it still sucked.

John made it back before Cas opened his eyes. “How is he?” John asked.

Dean shook his head. “Won’t know for sure until he wakes up, which he doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to do. Blood loss wasn’t as bad as it looked, so it’s just the head wound.”

“If he hasn’t woken up in another half hour, I’m going to try to rouse him,” Sam added.

John nodded. “Probably not a bad idea. Didn’t look like it was hard enough to cause a coma, but then, he doesn’t have the hard head you boys do.”

Dean suppressed the laugh. “That’s because he’s still scared of you. Get him in front of anyone else, he’s more stubborn than the two of us put together.”

Cas chose that minute to groan and start to sit up. “Ow.”

“Hey, take it easy,” Sam said quietly. “How do you feel?”

“Sore. Groggy.” He looked around and met John’s eyes. “Did you get that thing?”

John nodded. “It’s dead and burned.”

“Good.” He started to lean back, but Sam caught him.

“Drink this first,” Sam said, putting a bottle of Gatorade in Cas’s hand. “Replace some of the fluid you lost.”

“And I’ve got some questions for you, just to make sure your head’s okay,” Dean added. “What your name?”

“Cas Winchester,” Cas said.

“Your real one, I meant. It’s safe, we’re the only ones here,” Dean said, exchanging an amused glance with Sam.

“Oh. Castiel Godwin.”

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Dean continued.

Cas looked at Dean’s hand. “Of course you’d pull the joke. You’re not holding up any fingers, Dean. Very funny.”

“Who was the hottest cheerleader on the squad at Parkland?”

Once again, Cas gave Dean a weird look. “Your answer to that seemed to change every two weeks. And I’m gay, so I didn’t have my own opinion. If Sam had an opinion, he never said anything to me about it.”

Dean grinned. “All right, I think we’re good. Sleep and fluids and you’ll be good as new.”


	13. August 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With summer nearing its end, John talks to Dean about fall plans.

Dean came back from a scouting run to find Sam and Cas gone. “Dad? Where are my brothers?”

“They’re out on a date,” John said, setting aside his research. “Been a while since they had a chance to get away from us both. They’re at a movie and then getting some dinner.”

“Huh. Good for them,” Dean said. He waited, because he had a feeling there was more to it.

“I wanted to talk to you without them hearing,” John added.

Dean laughed. “Figured. What’s up?”

“Getting to be about time to think about Sam and school. We send him down south, they usually start in a week or two,” John said.

Dean flinched. He'd been counting on having until September before they had to say goodbye to Cas, but John was right. Southern schools started early. “Dad…”

John waved him off. “Now, a thought’s occurred to me. That school Cas goes to, Sammy like it okay? They keep him challenged?”

Dean was very confused now. “Yeah, I don’t know how much of Cas helping Sam with his homework was because Sam needed it and how much was nerd flirting, but I know there were times they were both genuinely challenged. And Sam had a few other friends.” He made sure to keep his hope in line as he asked, “Why do you ask?”

“Do you think he’d like to go back?” John asked.

“Uh…” Dean pretended to think. “Yeah, Dad, I think Sam would like to go to Cas’s school where he already knows people and has a spot on the soccer team waiting for him. He loved the stability and went ahead and registered for classes just to pretend it wasn’t over. And then, oh yeah. There’s Cas.”

John sighed. “I swore back in March there was no way I was doing this, but I’m thinking of sending him back. Can’t believe I’m enabling this teenage true love thing, but I am.”

“That’s great, Dad,” Dean said enthusiastically. “How long is Sam there?”

“Well, see, that’s the other thing,” John said. He sat forward a little. “Dean, you’re nineteen, you’re out of school, you have your own wheels and you’re a good hunter. You don’t have to stay with me and we can do more good if we each go on our own. You come help if I call, you’re free to do whatever you want in the meantime.”

“Uh… thanks?” Dean was flattered, but confused. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s awesome and all, but where’s the connection with Sam and school?”

“With you and me split up, who do you think Sam goes with if he’s given any say at all in the matter?” John asked.

That was a no-brainer. John and Sam could barely work together for more than a few hours when Sam was relatively happy without Dean as a buffer. A sulking Sam would probably have one of them killing the other. “Me. He’s a lot more my little brother than he is your son. Been that way since he was six months old.”

“Exactly,” John said. “I didn’t mean to, but I gave Sammy to you when you weren’t even five years old. I meant to do this in three years, keep you with me until Sam was out of school and I’d be sending the two of you off together, but… I’m doing it now.” John reached for a manila folder with a bunch of paperwork. “This just needs your official, witnessed signature to make you Sammy’s legal guardian. I’m not fully signing away my rights as his parent, but this says that if you and I disagree, you get the final say.”

Dean took the folder on autopilot, opening it to look over the papers in shock. “Dad, I don’t even know what to say about this. So I’m going back to the original question about Sam.”

John shook his head. “I’m gonna go ahead and blame the shock, I know you’re not this stupid. I just gave you Sam for real. So let me ask you. How long is your brother staying at that school?”

Dean kept staring at the folder. “Uh… I don’t… wait.” He looked up as it hit him, finally starting to sink in. “This means it’s my call.” John nodded. “June, or Sam asks to leave.”

“Thought you’d say that,” John said.

“Dad, this…” Dean didn’t know what to say here. This was something he’d never even thought to dream of. “This is huge. This isn’t gonna end up with you regretting it and trying to fight, is it? Because if it's for Sammy, I will fight you.”

“I'm not gonna fight unless I see you getting stupid. You know how to look after Sam in a way I don't anymore, if I ever did. I got Singer and Harvelle working on this back in June. Been thinking it over since March, and this is the right thing to do. It was actually Sam who gave me the idea,” John admitted.

“Huh?”

“When he flat-out told me him and Cas were none of my business, because you’d always been the one who vetted his friends and you’d signed off. He wasn’t wrong.” John looked at the folder. “When do we break it to Sammy?”

“Tomorrow, once this is signed and official,” Dean said, closing the folder. He stared at it some more. “This means… anything that requires parental consent, I can sign off on instead.”

“Yep. Sixteen with parental consent?” John asked.

Dean couldn’t meet his dad’s eyes. “There’s no way we get Michael to sign off on this, so it’s still over a year before we have to think about it, but yeah. When Cas goes to college, there may be reasons they’d want to.”

John nodded. “Let me know, you can sign off but he’s still my son and I’d like to be there. Get me a copy of that once it’s signed, probably a good idea for you to get Singer a copy to keep safe for you, maybe Murphy or Harvelle as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter to go after this. Thanks for reading, and once again, I apologize for the long hiatus!


	14. August 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Dean tell Sam and Cas the good news.

Once the paperwork was signed and Dean had gotten several official copies, he called Gabriel.

“Deano!” Gabriel greeted him. “Didn’t expect to be hearing from you yet. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, Cas has been amazing, no sign of any Godwins or goons, he’s coming back with some new skills,” Dean said. “I haven’t told them yet, but I just signed paperwork giving me custody of Sam.”

“Offer’s still good, Anna’s moved out, you and Sam come back here and you’ve got a place to live,” Gabriel said immediately.

That was a relief. “Okay. Thanks, Gabriel. We were coming back either way, just wanted to check in first.”

 

That evening, Dean called John over for the big Family Meeting. “Summer’s coming to an end, boys. I know we're all trying not to, but we need to talk about what’s going to happen in September,” Dean said.

Castiel swallowed. “My school starts the day after Labor Day. I’d like to stay with you as long as possible, but I understand that you’ll need to get Sam wherever he’s going and enrolled.”

“Well, keeping you and Sam together as long as possible is a pretty high priority for me,” Dean said. “Sam, where would you like to go?”

Sam couldn’t have sounded less interested. “Am I gonna be there longer than a month? If not, it really doesn’t matter.”

“Well, that kinda depends on you,” Dean said. “See, I’m thinking you’ll pick a town, we’ll get you set up in school, and you’ll let me know when you’re ready to move on.”

Sam snorted. “You realize by that logic I’m going with Cas and staying till June.”

“Yeah? That’s what you want?” Dean asked, quashing the smirk.

“That’s what I want.” Sam looked between John and Dean. “Look, this is about Cas, yeah, I’ll admit that much. But I really liked the school. The teachers are good, I like some of my classmates, I can play soccer, the track coaches…”

John cut him off. “Sam. You don’t have to convince me. You have to convince Dean, and I think you had him at Cas.”

“You had me at this being what you want,” Dean corrected. “I knew your reasons – they’re the ones I was planning to use on Dad. But then Dad… I’m an adult, I can do what I want. Well, I think we all know what I want to do. So… Dad gave you to me. Again. Wherever I go, I can take you. So if we’re free, and we both wanna stay with Cas…”

Sam stared. “What?”

Dean let the smirk out now. “You’re already enrolled, registered for classes, hell you already tried out for the soccer team and made it. So we say goodbye to Dad a couple days before school starts so we can get you school stuff, and the three of us settle in until June. Now, I’m gonna take off on occasion for hunts, but I’ll be focusing on stuff nearby. No more than overnight trips.”

“Dean…” Sam started, but he shook his head.

Cas was shaking a little as he reached for Sam’s hand. “Do you realize what this means, Sam?”

Sam shook his head. “I’m still wrapping my head around this being real. What’s this mean?”

“It means we have another year,” Cas said. “A whole year.”

“You’re thinking too small, Cas,” John said. “You may have to do the dorm thing your first year of college, but there’s no reason Sam and Dean can’t be nearby. Two years later Sam turns eighteen, graduates, and can do whatever he wants. This basically boils down to the only time limit on you and Sam is how long you can keep putting in the work to stay happier together than you are apart. Love isn’t enough for the long run. I did this because from what I’ve seen this summer, you know that and have a real chance.”

All three boys were staring at John now. Dean hadn’t thought that far ahead himself. Hell, Cas had gone farther, Dean had only been thinking till June. Sam was the one to break the silence. “Dad… thank you. I… I don’t even know how to thank you for this.”

John clapped a hand on Sam’s shoulder with a proud smile. “Keep your grades up and don’t get into a stupid fight with Cas that ruins everything.”

“Yes, sir,” Sam said. “I think I can do that.”

“One other thing,” Dean said. “I thought Gabriel would want to know about this, and he reiterated an offer he made back when we were talking about summer plans. Anna’s moved out, left for college, so he’s got an extra room no one’s using. He’s offered to let me use it.”

“What about me?” Sam asked.

“Anna had friends over a lot, Gabriel got a second bed for her room when I moved in and took over the spare room,” Castiel said. “Or… we’ve been sharing most of the summer, you could share with me. Gabriel won’t care.”

“And I think that’s our cue to bail, Dad,” Dean said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for coming along on this road trip! I have the next part written, but part of it is in the notebook that is still missing. I'll rewrite it if I have to so that I can get it out reasonably quickly, but I'm going to give myself a little more time to find the stupid thing before I start posting the next part of this 'verse.
> 
> Incidentally, my cat helped me post this chapter, so I'm putting a note here from him. He says "Meow."

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, summer break!
> 
> Comments are what keep me writing.


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